G.I. Joe #126 (July 1992) – “Firefly” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Randy Emberlin
This one continues from a couple issues ago, with a stand-off between the Joe Ninja Force and the red ninjas (led by Slice and Dice) in the forest of Trans-Carpathia being interrupted by the red ninja leader suddenly revealing himself as someone important. How do we know he’s important? Because they kept his identity secret for two issues to drive us nuts. It turns out to be Firefly, who supposedly died in the freighter on Cobra Island after eating tainted food. Slice and Dice aren’t familiar with Firefly but he soon proves he’s a ninja, and that he’s privy to some of the Arishikage clan’s secret techniques. Storm Shadow asks how he got out of the freighter and Firefly recounts how he found some partially-broken BATs and used them to dig out in a few weeks, before the food had the chance to go bad. He substituted Serpentor’s corpse for his own (after smashing the face up a bit)
so the body count would work out. Slice and Dice are still skeptical about Firefly being a ninja, but he takes his mask off to reveal that he’s the Faceless Master, who we saw in an old Arashikage clan photo. Firefly gives them (and us) his backstory, how he was adopted into the Arashikage clan and learned their secrets. But what no one knew at the time was that Firefly had been hired by Cobra Commander to kill Snake Eyes. He soon realized Snake eyes was too skilled for him to handle, so he brought in Zartan, who ended up killing the Hard Master by mistake. Storm Shadow realizes Firefly is responsible for the deaths of both his uncles and the rest of the ninjas (even Slice and Dice) are ready to help take Firefly down. But Firefly reveals that he’s moved past the 
traditional ninja ways and embraced more high-tech combat methods … such as the gas he uses to knock out all the ninjas. He also has a squadron of BATs under his command and a portable brainwave scanner that he plans to use to brainwash all the ninjas into his own personal ninja army. This is a pretty good issue, although it’s mostly just giving us Firefly’s history and how it ties into the Arashikage ninja clan as the Faceless Master. (We also get a pseudo-scientific explanation for Firefly’s ability to blur his face so nobody knows what he really looks like.) Some of what Firefly says contradicts what we learned in issue 84, but I guess we can put it down to misdirection and the usual secrecy surrounding ninjas.
G. I. Joe #127 (August 1992) – “Playing With the Big Boys” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Bob Downs
This one starts with Duke showing up at the secret SDI site in Manhattan (which we saw in issue 86) that’s staffed by the original G.I. Joe and Jane. Joe is worried that Cobra has tapped into their control lines and traces the tap to a phone facility in New Jersey. Cobra Commander has tapped into the network, but he seems to want the Joes to discover that. Because of the usual New York bullshit (traffic, rude Manhattanites) Duke and his team are delayed so he orders Bulletproof’s team (including Mutt, Cutter, and Shockwave) to forget about going after the big drug dealer from Broca Beach and head to New Jersey to stop Cobra. Speaking of the drug dealers,
we see Headman on a ship full of dope off the Jersey shore, waiting to make a big exchange. In Jersey, the Tomahawk (with Duke, Stalker, and Joe on it) shows up and runs right into an ambush, but manages to take out some of the Cobras before crashing. Cobra Commander has already left for New York, hoping the forces he left behind will delay the Joes long enough for him to complete his plans. Bulletproof’s team arrives in Jersey, but he’s pissed off to find that the whole thing was a distraction. Duke’s team takes some Battle-Copters (a type of auto-gyro) from Bulletproof’s vehicle and heads for Manhattan, leaving Bulletproof and his team to go after the drug ship. Cobra has already landed on the building with hang-gliders and tapped into the SDI system, but the 
Joes are forced to land across the street and try to make their way up through the building again. Cobra Commander taps into the SDI system and uses the laser to blow up the drug ship, surprising the hell out of Bulletproof’s team. Cobra Commander and his henchmen manage to get away and his success makes him think that he should start thinking big again. This was a pretty good issue, with Cobra Commander actually “winning” against the Joes. Of course, they don’t know why he blew up a ship full of dope because they don’t know about Broca Beach being a Cobra front, but it was cool to see Cobra Commander actually doing something positive for society at large for once.